Barbara was born in 1952 in Miami, Florida, her mother’s maiden name is Eleanore Cohen, her nickname was “Ellie”, and her father’s name is Edgar Rivkin. Her parents met in New York City, and not long after Edgar had been discharged from Army they moved to Miami, Florida. Edgar was one of the thousands of heroic men who served and fought during World War II. He served in the U.S. Army from late 1941 to early 1946. He was a Sergeant who saw heavy combat while assigned to an Armored Infantry Battalion, fighting on foot and from Armored Half Tracks. His Unit landed in Marseille, France on October 28, 1944 and fought their way all the way to Munich, Germany on May 8, 1945. Along that way Edgar was wounded twice and he was awarded two Purple Heart Medals and the Bronze Star. Back, In Miami in 1947 Edgar and Ellie went to work in a family owned business in South Beach named Jean’s Candy Shop, which catered Florida fruit baskets and various other assortments and candies to tourists visiting Miami Beach. Eleanore went to college and graduated from the University of Miami. And then Barbara was born two days before Thanksgiving in 1952. Edgar and Ellie operated Jean’s Candy Shop for 23 years until 1970 when deaths in the family closed the business. After that Edgar was a Salesman for High Grade Meats and Vienna Beef Company for nearly 20 years, and Ellie worked for 5 years as a Knitting Instructor at a Coral Gables Yarn store. Edgar retired in 1988 but continued working part time at Carnival Cruise Lines until he was diagnosed with two subsequent brain tumors in early 1992, and he died 9 months later. Ellie passed away in 1996. Barbara will be interned here next to her mother and father at Lakeside Memorial Park Cemetery.
Barbara attended Miami-Dade Public Elementary and Middle Schools and graduated from Coral Gables High School in 1970. In college her interest in the medical field inspired her to enter nursing school. She graduated from the University of Miami in 1975 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. She is a second generation Miami Hurricane. Her early nursing career began in the Emergency Room at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where that life experience prepared her for her nursing career over the next 36 years.
Barbara met her soon to be husband in 1981 while still working in the E.R. at Jackson Memorial Hospital. At the time they met her husband Harry had been a Police Officer for the past 5 years at Coral Gables Police Department, where he served for 30 years. Barbara and Harry were married on September 4, 1982. Soon after, Barbara left Jackson Memorial to work for various nursing agencies, so she could tailor her work schedule around her husband’s varying shifts and varying days off, so the two of them could spend as much time together as possible. Over the next three decades Barbara would work in more than a dozen local hospitals and Home Health Agencies around Miami-Dade and South Broward counties. During this time frame she and her husband operated H.B.P. Inc. Nursing and Security. Her training and expertise included Home Health Care, Oncology, invasive nursing procedures like inserting peripherally inserted central catheters, called PICC lines, and she was also a nursing educator. Just prior to Harry retiring at the end of 2006 Barbara also semi-retired. And for the next four years she operated her own nursing consulting business named Biscayne Legal Nurse Consultants, where she reviewed and evaluated medical malpractice cases for two law firms. Barbara officially retired her nursing license in 2015.
Barbara became quite talented in arts and crafts and cooking. In 1992 she operated a side business named Baskets by Barbara, making handmade gift baskets. And from 2008 to 2012 she operated Nature Coast Farms LLC, where she and her husband made and sold homemade canned jellies, jams, preserves and pickles. And she and her husband also canned vegetables from their home garden.
Barbara loved to travel and she loved cruising. She and her husband traveled to Western Europe three times, visited parts of Canada, have been to many of the Caribbean islands, and most all of the major National Parks in the Western United States. She has by no means been everywhere, but she has visited a lot of spectacular and scenic places, from near the top of the Matterhorn Mountain in Switzerland, to the top of the Eiffel Tower, she has seen up close Mount McKinley in Alaska, and stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon, and at the base of giant sequoias and redwood trees in California. And here in Florida we have camped at a good majority of Florida’s State Parks, National Parks and Preserves, the Florida Everglades, and many many other jaw dropping vistas. She didn’t miss much.
Barbara loved her entire family, particularly the children. She was a loving and caring Aunt, Great Aunt, and recently a Great Great Aunt. Time with family was precious and she always had time for everyone.
She and her husband loved boating and fishing. Barbara could always brag, which she often did, that she had continuously out-fished Harry and caught the largest fish, which is true.
Barbara passed away on June 23, 2022 after a courageous 18 month long battle with cancer.
Barbara will be missed by many many friends and family and she will always be with us in our hearts and in our soul. Barbara is survived by her husband Harry S. Pickering, first cousin Susan Rivkin, second cousins Peter and Brett Gili and their children, second cousin Amy Sarnow, sister-in-law Barbara Lytton, niece Brenda Winegarden (husband Bruce), Nephews James Lytton (and Tracey Basty), and John Lytton (wife Kim), Great Niece and Nephews Joe, Joel, Trista, and Thomas Winegarden, and Great Nieces Alexa Basty Lytton and Brooke Lytton, Great Nephew Shane Lytton, and Great Great Nephew Nathan Lytton, and many others cousins and distant relatives.
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